“PROPERTY” UNDER WASHINGTON CPA INCLUDES DEMAND FOR INSURANCE POLICY LIMITS.

In Nielsen v. Cal. Cap. Ins. Co., No. 2:22-CV-0177-TOR, 2023 WL 6222537 (E.D. Wash. Sept. 25, 2023), Ms. Josie Nielsen sued her underinsured motorist carrier for bad faith and alleged violations of Washington State’s Consumer Protection Act (CPA), among other things.  She was injured in a motor vehicle accident with an underinsured tortfeasor, incurred medical specials totaling $83,365.37, demanded the UIM policy limit of $1,000,000, received treatments that raised her medical specials total to some $310,000 and her claim’s alleged total value to $2,450,000,  and kept her demand the same.  Her carrier responded by demanding an Independent Medical Examination, after which the carrier responded with a total offer of “$302,212.17 when the $100,000 from the at-fault driver, medical expenses, and PIP payments were included.”  See Nielsen, 2023 WL 6222537, at *1-*2.

The Washington Consumer Protection Act applies to “injury to a person’s business or property,” in part here pertinent.  See Wash. Rev. Code § 19.86.090.  The UIM carrier in this case argued that Ms. Nielsen’s claim under the CPA did not qualify as actionable injury to her “property.”  The Court in this case disagreed, and accordingly denied the carrier’s motion for summary judgment on the CPA claims for wrongful denial of benefits, in these words following a full discussion of Washington State case law interpreting the CPA:

Although Plaintiff’s demand for her policy limits stems from a personal injury, her allegations are better characterized as a demand for benefits than a personal injury claim.

Nielsen, 2023 WL 6222537, at *4.

Express statutory claims and causes of action alleged in first-party insurance bad faith cases are addressed in 2 DENNIS J. WALL, LITIGATION AND PREVENTION OF INSURER BAD FAITH § 9:14 (Thomson Reuters 3d Edition, 2023 Supplements), including claims and causes of action alleged under various State Unfair Business Practices Acts or Unfair Competition Laws, and Consumer Protection Acts.

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